TEL AVIV — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu testified Tuesday in his corruption trial, becoming the country’s first sitting leader to take the stand as a criminal defendant and marking an unprecedented moment in its political history.
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The trial is unfolding against the backdrop of the war in Gaza, an incursion by Israeli forces into Syria and a tenuous ceasefire in Lebanon.
Netanyahu has tried for years to avoid appearing in court, with critics accusing him of undermining Israel’s judicial system, most recently by encouraging members of his right wing Likud party to call for the firing of the attorney general.
“The only thing in front of me is the future of the state, not my own future,” Netanyahu said after being sworn in. He said he would “tell my truth, to the best of my recollection,” and refused to take a seat at the defendants’ bench until journalists were cleared from the room.
Netanyahu said he hoped the trial “will not be interrupted too much” despite his duties to the army and the state. In the first hours of his testimony, paper notes were delivered to him — evidence, he said, that the developing situations outside the walls of the underground court chamber still demanded his attention.
“I want to testify, but I am leading Israel on seven fronts,” he said, referring to Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Iran. “We must strike the right balance between the needs of the court and the needs of the nation.”
The stakes have never been higher — both for Netanyahu, who may ultimately face jail time, and for the court itself, which the prime minister’s far-right supporters have characterized as a threat to democracy.
Here’s what to know.
What is Netanyahu on trial for?
Netanyahu is facing charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases brought to the court more than four years ago. Netanyahu is accused of exploiting his office for personal gain; accepting extravagant gifts — including champagne, cigars, jewelry and other items worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in total — in exchange for diplomatic favours for billionaire friends; and offering favourable regulatory treatment to one of Israel’s largest media moguls in return for positive media coverage.
In the opening minutes of his testimony, he asserted that the indictment’s characterization of himself and his family as “hedonists” was “absurd.” He said he works 17 to 18 hours a day, eats meals at his desk, goes to sleep at 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. and almost never sees his family — citing the pressures he encountered during the Obama administration and amid confrontations with world leaders in what he said was the defence of Israel’s national security interests.
The allegations that he received illicit and luxurious gifts are “doubly absurd,” Netanyahu said. He added that he does not even like champagne and, while he does “sometimes sin with a cigar,” he rarely gets an opportunity to smoke them because of the demands of his job.
Police have already interviewed Netanyahu and his wife Sara multiple times, but Tuesday will be the first time he takes the witness stand.
Netanyahu denies all wrongdoing and has rejected public calls for his resignation, including from some of the families of hostages still held in Gaza, who accuse Israel’s longest-serving leader of prolonging the war for his political survival.
Yoav Sapir, a former chief public defender who is now academic director of the Taubenschlag Institute of Criminal Law at Tel Aviv University, said the trial could further undermine the public’s faith in government — already shaken by the security failures of Oct. 7 and growing political polarization.
“That there is no legal barrier for an indicted prime minister to serve doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do,” Sapir said.
How will the trial play out?
In his testimony, Netanyahu depicted himself as the victim of a leftist conspiracy.
“I heard in the media that I want to avoid the trial. What idiocy,” he said in a televised news conference Monday night. “For eight years I have been waiting to present the truth and finally explode the delusional, unfounded accusations, the brutal witch hunt.”
Though the trial falls under the purview of the Jerusalem District Court, the proceedings will take place in an underground room in a Tel Aviv courthouse approved by Netanyahu’s security team. The prime minister and his allies have repeatedly objected to him appearing in court during ongoing wars, saying it could threaten national security.
Miri Regev, the transport minister and a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, told reporters outside the court that it was a “disgrace” that the prime minister was required to take the stand while the war in Gaza was continuing.
She was among a group of politicians from the coalition government — including national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir and communications minister Shlomo Karhi, both of whom have called for the Attorney General to be fired — who attended the hearing to support Netanyahu.
To get inside, they had to walk around Hostage Square, the main protest site against Netanyahu’s failure to secure the return of those still held in Gaza.
Starting next week, Netanyahu will be required to testify three days a week, six hours per day, for several weeks. In the first section of the hearing, he will answer open-ended questions from his own attorneys and have the chance to directly address the charges against him, which have been the subject of years of proceedings, with hundreds of witnesses appearing so far.
Next, prosecutors will begin their cross-examination. Political observers say Netanyahu may try to avoid this second phase for as long as possible.
“We will see endless interruptions, which only back up the Prime Minister’s narrative that he is trying to run a war, and the judiciary is preventing it,” said Gayil Talshir, a political scientist at Hebrew University.
Education Minister Yoav Kisch, a Netanyahu loyalist, on Sunday posted on X that he would request a three-month postponement of the hearing “in light of the strategic change in our region” following the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
Could the trial affect Israeli policy in Gaza?
The impact of the trial is expected to ripple well beyond the courtroom, and comes amid new negotiations over a potential ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza.
Some analysts say Netanyahu’s decision in recent weeks to revive the talks — after months of resisting pressure from Washington to agree to a deal with Hamas — could be, in part, an effort to deflect attention from the criminal proceedings against him.
Revelations in the trial could intensify public demands for fresh elections which, according to Israeli public opinion polls, Netanyahu would likely lose.
“Netanyahu is attempting to remain the prime minister for all the remaining years of his trial, and to avoid at all costs going to an early election,” Talshir said.
While the overwhelming majority of Israelis support ending the war in Gaza and bringing home the 100 hostages still being held, Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners have threatened to bring down the government if he agrees to wind down the conflict and withdraw troops from Gaza. As a result, Talshir said, the talks may continue, but an agreement could still remain out of reach.
“Netanyahu needs positive media,” she said, “but he will most likely only agree to a deal that his far-right partners can stomach.